Spain (スペイン, Supein) is a character in the series Hetalia: Axis Powers. In 2008, Himaruya gave human names to some of the characters, and he received the name Antonio Fernández Carriedo (アントーニョ・フェルナンデス・カリエド, Antōnyo Ferunandesu Kariedo), though it may have been originally spelled Antonio Hernández Carriedo (アントーニョ・ヘルナンデス・カリエド, Antōnyo Herunandesu Kariedo, see "Name" section for details).

Contents

Appearance

He has somewhat curly brown hair, green eyes, lightly tanned skin, and wears a khaki-colored uniform (like the one used by the "Regulares", a Spanish elite unit operating in North Africa until the 60s, and now in Ceuta and Melilla) with 3/4-length sleeves. He is often depicted with his favorite food, tomatoes. In the profile image at the right, he is wearing a bullfighter uniform (from the Children's Day sketch series). Himaruya says that although his somewhat messy hair is quite attractive, Spain probably doesn't spend much time on his appearance.

Spain's skintone has alternated between fair and olive.

Personality and Interests

A cheerful country bumpkin, Spain was once a super powerful nation and traveler until he was tormented by England and Netherlands, beaten by a younger America, and thrown into war and poverty. Despite all his hardships, he remained optimistic and passionate. The source of his constant happiness is the sunshine that cast over his land.

Although he means well, he happens to come off as insensitive and clueless at times because of his inability to "read the atmosphere" (it is said that he does not even try to assess the situation). Spain speaks in the Osaka-ben variant of the Kansai dialect in the Japanese version.

He is also very fond of children, especially the Italy brothers and had once taken care of S.Italy. It is shown that his ultimate dream is for both of them to live with him.

Spain is often shown spending time with either Romano, Prussia, or France.

Belgium

France

The two get along rather well, having grown up and fought in wars together, though Spain remains oblivious to France's more perverted tendencies and cannot see why Romano hates him. It is said in production notes by Himaruya that their relationship is actually undesirable, yet the two remain inseparable. France has shown that he has wanted Romano to be a French territory, and had fought Spain over four times for him (losing each time). Recently, it seems Spain is aware that France is a bad influence on him, calling him "despicable" before defeating him in The Battle of Garigliano with the help of his pet bull. France's first bird named Pierre is used for communication with him.

Netherlands

Netherlands was a member of Spain's household for some time. Their relationship became very difficult up till the point where Spain believed Netherlands hated him. Eventually he left and later beat Spain up to be recognized as an independent country.

South Italy (Romano)

Spain is rather affectionate to Romano, this affection being described as "strange" in character notes. As a result of having lived alongside him from the time he was a young and under his rule, Romano takes off some of his culture and customs, and both share a deep love for tomatoes.

After defeating France in the 'Batalla del Garellano', Spain took control over South Italy and made him his henchman (since he was the self-proclaimed 'boss' of his colonies). In the years of having him under his rule Spain often had difficulty trying to get Romano to do chores and when he did, he often ended up breaking things, making him wish that he could have acquired North Italy instead, due to the younger brother's obedience and "cuteness". But after Spain's attempt to trade him for his younger brother, Spain couldn't help feeling guilty for wanting to trade Romano. After Spain's attempt to trade him for his younger brother, Romano became more bitter and jealous around him. Spain then tried to spoil him in an attempt to show Romano that he still liked him, even in comparison with his brother. Spain’s opinion is that Romano should acknowledge him as his “boss," which Romano refuses to call him.

Even though he found Romano's frequent bed-wetting and harsh attitude to be annoying, Spain remained affectionate to him, and was determined to save him when he was captured by Turkey and from France's frequent attempts to take Romano from him. Even though their kingdom wound up thrown into debt due to all the money spent on South Italy's protection, Spain refused to let go of him since he was 'special' to him, even after being scolded several times by his boss. Seeing this made Romano realise how much Spain truly cared for him, and after (very shyly) thanking Spain for rescuing him, Spain changed his view on him as well, saying he 'also had a cute side after all' and that 'it would be so cute if he was so honest all the time'. After that their relationship improved a bit, but Romano also grew more jealous around Spain. In one strip, Romano tried to attack a German soldier who was talking to Spain, mistaking him for an enemy, which resulted in Spain being mad at him for being rude to a visitor. Known by his inability to read the mood, Spain didn't know about Romano's true intentions until he asked him directly, which frustrated Romano to no end. Romano's tendency to blush and turn completely red whenever he was embarrassed or angry as a kid often made Spain comment on how much he looked like a tomato. Unaware of its effects on Romano, Spain also had the habit of pulling on and twirling Romano's curl, causing Romano to headbutt him and call him a pervert.

At one point Spain spent all his money on buying Chibi-Romano new clothes, while he himself was dressed in rags. Then in the same strip we're shown Romano (adult) reading a Spanish history book in the present, about how Spain spent lots of money in South Italy back at the time. However, while Romano is trying to say something that could be interpreted as an attempt to say thank you, in the end Spain doesn't get what Romano wants to say and says that 'he used to spend all his money without thinking in the past, but now he knows the importance of saving money'. This results in a very annoyed Romano, and the Netherlands stating that "he was always like this".

As Romano grew into an adult he continued to be close to Spain, and is rarely seen spending time with any other characters besides Spain and his own brother (and sometimes Belgium). Spain is one of the few characters to be on good terms with Romano, as they often appear spending time together. Whenever he gets in trouble he calls Spain for help, like the time he was captured by England in WW2, or when he ran out of pasta and he refused to accept anyone's food but Spain's. Even though he retains his harsh attitude throughout the series, in one strip he tried to save Spain from dying from a severe cold (caused by the great economic difficulties Spain was going through), and went as far as fighting the mafia (which he fears and always obeys) and trying to buy more imports from Spain, even though he was still dealing with his own cold (for economic reasons as well). During the Halloween Event 2011, Spain called Romano cute several times despite his appearance and unsettling aura, and stated that "he's so cute I just can't help but want to protect him". Spain also proposes to Romano after gay marriage became legalized in his country in 2005, who answered that he wanted a minimum of three meals a day and a nap with pasta. Spain took the answer as a rejection, and felt depressed that nobody wanted to marry him.

'Spamano' is the names "Spain" and "Romano" merged, to represent the fanon pairing of Spain and South Italy (Romano).

In the Anime

Spain in Episode 14

Spain cameos in Episode 01 at the world meeting, asking Russia if he is going to say something to stop the quarreling that is going on. He then makes his official appearance as a young Spain appearing in the Chibitalia segments offering Italy churros in Episode 02, but later in the episode is shown to be one of the other children that bullies the Italy brothers.

Episodes 60-62, Episode 68, and Episode 75-77 adapt Boss Spain's Control of Southern Italy. This shows the time from when Spain firsts aquires Romano to where he begins fighting France and Turkey for Romano.

Name

There is debate over whether his first surname is Fernández or Hernández, due to possible mistranslations. When Himaruya first gave him a human name, the katakana resembled the characters for the latter more (ヘルナンデス, Herunandesu), though it later appeared with the kana for Fernández (フェルナンデス, Ferunandesu) and became Romanized as such.

It is unclear if this is due to a mistake by a fan or if Himaruya later spelled the name differently, though there is a noticeable debate over which spelling is the correct one in both the Western and Eastern fandom. Japanese fanworks often use either name, while international fanworks tend to use Férnandez more often. The slight difference becomes more apparent as Férnandez is a patronimic that comes from the first name "Fernando" like Ferdinand II Of Aragon, and Hernández comes from "Hernán", like the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés. However, both are common surnames in Spain. Hernández and Fernández are the native renderings of his name. In Spain, the -ez ending is often connected to names belonging in the Southern Region of Spain which was under Islamic rule for several long periods of time. The -ez ending of his second last name is probably used to represent this part of his house.

In Spain, people have two surnames and both are always used. However, in English fandom, it is common to see Carriedo as Antonio's only surname, which is a mistake.

Trivia

According to a note by Hidekaz Himaruya, Spain was only originally going to speak in the Kansai dialect whenever he was excited or around people that were close to him. In addition, Himaruya also revealed that Spain might as well have "two faces" like Russia. He also stated in another note that while Spain treated Romano kindly, he was stern to his other colonies. Himaruya himself wondered why Spain was "historically stuck on Italy" that much, as it was stuck spending so much money to protect it and struggled to try to get it back after losing it in the War of the Spanish Succession.

Himaruya stated that Spain was also based off a friend of his, which inspired him to give him the Kansai dialect. In addition, it is said that all of the Spanish-language nations will speak in some variant of Kansai. Though Belgium is not one of them, she speaks in the Shiga-ben variant, presumably since she used to be one of Spain's territories.

A separate character for Castile (Castilla) was originally planned as Spain's older sister, but it is speculated that Himaruya may have forgotten about this idea, as he later drew a child version of Spain that seemed to hint at the Reconquista. Fans speculate that the younger Spain may have represented Castile, or alternatively Aragón (in the case of Castile being a separate character). It originally seemed more likely that he represented Castile due to the above sketch, as well as the Castilian culture being the dominant culture of Spain. In the original webcomic, his boss was also shown to be Joanna of Castile in the Boss Spain strips, whom Himaruya called the Mad Queen. However, in volume 3, Spain was used to represent the Crown of Aragon, throwing doubt on to this theory. In most fanfiction, he is used to represent the entirety of Hispania, especially during its days as a Roman province.

Spain's birthday (February 12) was the date the 1st Spanish Republic was oficially formed, after the queen Isabel II was exiled due to the 1868 revolution "Gloriosa" (Glorious).